‘The Starling’s Song’ from Award-Winning Poet B. L. Bruce
In a similar vein as her award-winning debut collection The Weight of Snow, Bruce’s newest compilation of poetry explores the themes of love, loss, and nature–both human and not.
Written in its entirety during a twenty-eight day stay in a remote cabin in the forests of Northern California, B. L. Bruce’s chapbook, The Starling’s Song, affirms and renews the author’s proclaimed lyricism in thirty-five new poems.
B. L. BRUCE is a graphic designer and publisher from Santa Cruz, California. She holds a bachelor’s degree in post-modern literature and creative writing from UC Santa Cruz. Her work has appeared in dozens of anthologies, magazines, and literary publications, including The Sun Magazine, Common Ground Review, and the Monterey Poetry Review. Recently the recipient of the 2014 PushPen Press Pendant Prize for Poetry, Bruce is the author of the 2014 International Book Awards Finalist and the 2014 USA Best Book Awards Finalist in the poetry category for The Weight of Snow. The Starling’s Song is her third book.
Bruce’s new chapbook, The Starling’s Song, is now available on Amazon and all major eBook retailers.
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Excerpt:
REPENT
Sunlight soon replaces the gray of dawn.
The cold has now found itself beside me
in the bed, the warmth of your body
long dissipated. I rise halfheartedly,
busy the sleep from my limbs, remnants
of dreams being shaken from me.
I roll up the rugs, sweep the kitchen,
remember to water the begonia.
From the doorway I watch the deer
stray into the garden to nibble the
yellow roses, dark eyes searching—
perhaps a fear I cannot understand—
pronged crowns, sinewed muscles,
every bit of them at attention. I
envy them, free from carrying the
weight of thoughts, driven, unthinking,
by the nature of things. The deer knows
no guilt, no sadness, only wishes to
wander from one haven to the next.
Mist rises from the still waters
of the river. I repent again and again.
We are not born into wickedness.
Left tasting the salt of my tears
in the threshold, I notice for the first
time the green buds on the fuyu
are beginning to color.
c. B. L. Bruce, 2016
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